Soft Baked Pretzels

This is a copykat recipe of Auntie Anne's pretzels. I got the recipe from http://www.food.com/recipe/auntie-annes-pretzels-copycat-59462

You will need:
1 ¹⁄₂ cups water, luke warm
1 ¹⁄₄ tsp active dry yeast (1 pkg.)
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 ¹⁄₄ tsp salt
1 cup bread flour
3 cups flour
2 cups water
2 tbsp baking soda
coarse salt

Toppings:
butter (melted)

cinnamon sugar
ranch dressing seasoning
sour cream and onion seasoning
cheddar cheese and jalapenos

Stir yeast into bowl of lukewarm water until dissolved. Add sugar and salt and stir to dissolve. Then  add flour and knead dough until smooth and elastic. Let rise at least 1/2 hour.

Let rise.

While dough is rising, stir together 2 cups warm water and 2 tbsp baking soda until dissolved. Set aside.

After it rises.

After dough has risen, divide dough into twelve equal pieces and roll into a long rope (about 1/2 inch or less thick) and shape into pretzel shape.
Dip pretzel in baking soda solution and place on greased baking sheet. Allow pretzels to rise again for 10 minutes. If you allow to rise too long, they will get pretty puffy and somewhat loose the pretzel shape, like some of mine did, but they taste just as good. Bake in oven at 450 for about 10 minutes or until golden.

Brush with or dip it in melted butter and sprinkle with coarse salt. You can also try sprinkling it with things like cinnamon sugar or Ranch dressing mix (powder). I thought about sprinkling some shredded cheddar cheese and slices of jalapenos on top as well, before popping it into the oven.